Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Coming Soon: Pete’s Pizzeria
Here’s Park Slope shares a few photos of Pete’s Pizzeria, the new restaurant in the old SP Vino space on 5th Avenue between 1st and 2nd. The place won’t open for a couple of weeks, but the blogger stopped by a friends-and-family gathering the other night and reports that the pizza is “Ridiculously good, and very similar to what you’d find at a local joint in Naples. The pies are smallish with a chewy crust and the sauce is uncooked, sweet, and chunky. Add a little fresh buffalo mozzarella, a drizzle of olive oil, basil, oregano, and some grated Parm, and you’ve really got something unlike any of the other pizzerias in the area. They’ll also come with toppings like prosciutto, arugula, and balsamic; pesto, roasted vegetables, and Feta; and ricotta with spicy cherry peppers.”

This Week’s Openings
Eater shares a tip that Arancini Bros, “who’ve been serving up Sicilian rice balls at the Hester Street Fair, have opened up a brick and mortar location at The Wreck Room. Status: Certified open; 940 Flushing Ave., Bushwick.” Serious Eats raves about their rice balls, and at the risk of sharing a very guilty pleasure, we have to mention that Arancini Brother Will was the most likable potential love match on the recent season of Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker… The New York Timesmentions a few places that we’ve been reporting on: Padres, the new kosher spot on Atlantic Avenue, is open and serving “a smoked mushroom and onion pizza, eggplant gratin, sardines with skordalia, loup de mer with chestnut crepe, and duck breast with vanilla barley;” Court Street’s new Southern spot Van Horn is pushing “Brunswick stew, hush puppies and a BLT with pimento cheese;” and Crop to Cup is brewing coffee at their 3rd Avenue outpost.

After the jump: A local soda syrup maker, a year at Mile End, and expansion at Brooklyn Fare…

Quick BitesTime Out New Yorkcatches up with Anton Nocito, the one-man artisanal soda syrup producer behind P&H Soda Co.: “The bespectacled, heavily tattooed Nocito works out of a kitchen laboratory, crowded with massive vats of dried hibiscus and star anise, in the back of Greenpoint grocer Eastern District… [Nocito] shops for local ingredients whenever possible, then steeps and reduces the fruits and spices with cane sugarâ€”there are seasonal varieties such as quince and Meyer lemon, and year-round selections including lime and cream.” You can buy his wares at Brookyln Farmacy… Eater celebrates the first anniversary of Mile End by interviewing owner Noah Bernamoff, who talks about the response to the deli’s newish dinner menu: “It’s been almost unanimously positive. The neighborhood people love that there’s another dinner option. People are maybe not as willing to make a long trip for a sandwich, but if you make a night out of something, and have some nice food, that’s different.” … Finally, Grub Street reports that the grocery portion of Brooklyn Fare has doubled in size: “Owner Moe Issa tells us the shop has gone from 6,000 square feet to 12,000 square feet, parts of which are open now and all of which will be unveiled in the next two to three weeks.”